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Not in Our Name

Submitted by OADP on Thu, 11/30/2017 - 9:07pm

A new, powerful publication from OADP

Telling a story can be a powerful means of expressing a point of view, evoking emotions, or explaining a difficult situation. In a new publication from OADP, nine Oregonians have shared their painful stories and opened their hearts in Not in Our Name, a composite of stories shared by murder victim family members.

Though each person's story is different in detail, common themes of coping, grieving, and reconciling loss are reminders of the long journey surviving family members have taken and how important it is to embrace them with our most loving and compassionate responses. While each has endured the extreme pain of losing a loved one to murder, they are all staunchly opposed to more violence in the form of a state-sanctioned execution and a death penalty.

Aba Gayle of Silverton says in part, "Now I know that having someone murdered by the government will not heal my pain."

Not in My Name is introduced by Sister Helen Prejean, nationally known author and speaker, who has visited Oregon on several occasions and will return in May 2018. Sister Helen's profound words are always inspiring.

The forward of the book is provided by former Governor John Kitzhaber, writing about his own experience administering the death penalty. "I still think about my decisions in 1996 and 1997. I believe those decisions were wrong. I find comfort in the stories of other Oregonians in this book who have struggled to find a deeper moral truth."

Gus Lamm, a retired mental health counselor from Eugene states, "The scales of justice are out of balance when it comes to the death penalty." His story joins the stories of three others residents of Eugene and Springfield. Losing a daughter, a sister, a mother, all of the storytellers deal with their profound sorrow while honoring their loved one by working to move away from more violence with messages of peace and reconciliation.

OADP understands that not all family members express similar feelings toward those who have killed their loved ones. Regardless of their stance on the death penalty, we need to support family members of murder victims. Generally, they do not ask for or expect sympathy. Rather they appreciate our acknowledgment that their loss can be felt by all of us and our efforts to provide resources that support them through the most difficult times of their lives.

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Common Questions

Capital punishment is legal in the U.S. state of Oregon. The first execution under the territorial government was in 1851. Capital punishment was made explicitly legal by statute in 1864, and executions have been carried out exclusively at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem since 1904. The death penalty was outlawed between 1914 and 1920, again between 1964 and 1978, and then again between a 1981 Oregon Supreme Court ruling and a 1984 ballot measure. Since 1904, about 60 individuals have been executed in Oregon. Aggravated murder is the only crime subject to the penalty of death under Oregon law.